Legislation allows for up to 10 centres to be set up in the constituency where a historic recall petition – which could oust the suspended Democratic Unionist party MP from his seat and force a by election - can be signed over a six-week period.

However, the electoral office has decided to set up only three in North Antrim.

The recall petition is the first of its kind and comes after the sitting MP was suspended last week.

The parliamentary standards committee found him guilty of “serious misconduct” for failing to declare £50,000 of family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government in 2013.

He then breached the rules on paid advocacy by writing to David Cameron in 2014 to lobby against a UN resolution on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

The petition will run from 8 August to 19 September and will be available for signing on weekdays from 9am to 5pm in centres in Ballymoney (Joey Dunlop Centre), Ballymena (Seven Towers Leisure Centre) and Ballycastle (Sheskburn Recreation Centre).